Printed from: https://www.cmf.org.uk/resources/publications/content/?context=issue&id=87
The Jehovah's Witness movement was originally known as the Zion Watchtower Society and was founded in the USA in 1884 by Charles Taze Russell, who had been a member of a conventional Christian church but then came to disagree with much of its theology [1]. The movement preaches a literal...
Monday morning. Six new referrals on my desk. I go to the wards and find two more. The doctors want these patients discharged home this week. They need the beds. I make a face and sigh 'Just what I need. Do I really have to see them?' A few more...
Both as a Christian and as a GP, I am often inviting people to change their ways. 'Repent for the kingdom of God is near!' 'Give up smoking, it shortens your life!' Of course, I dress these statements in softer language, but the challenges remain. And my success rate? 'Motivation for...
As a privileged schoolboy at Harrow, Anthony Ashley Cooper (later the seventh Earl of Shaftesbury) came across a pauper's funeral. The scene changed his life. He not only became the leader of the evangelical movement of his day, supporting foreign missions, founding the Bible Society, the Church Pastoral Aid Society,...
The nervous laughter which followed led me to suspect some found the idea extremely threatening and were unlikely to translate it into action. One GP even asked me what he should do if his wife's answer was wrong! Highlighting the cost of professional and Christian commitments is not intended to...
Articles in this edition Opportunity or threat Editorial comment All You Need . . . is Love Christian nurse Jill Patient working with Bombay's Aruna Project was glad to be mistaken for a prostitute . . . Saving Motherhood or Destroying It? From 25 years' obstetric experience in southern Affica, David Clegg asks:...
This is a challenging read, highlighting some of the blind spots of social policy and their consequences. It points out that 'if any Chief Medical Officer had recommended a drug for preventing pneumonia and after 10 years the result had been to increase the prevalence of the disease, the policy...
This beautiful and profoundly moving book of prose, poems, prayers and reflections chronicles with great honesty and integrity Mary Hathaway's journey through despair and hope. Her story begins with her son's diagnosis of a rare form of cancer which required months of intensive treatment. As he recovered Mary was then...
The words 'Trust me, I'm a doctor' may no longer reassure doubting patients, yet one recent survey suggests that 75% of UK 16-21 year olds continue to hold the medical profession in the greatest respect. This millennial generation is found to value personal honesty and caring above ambition and independence....
I was initially asked to write this review for the Autumn 1998 edition of Triple Helix just as we were leaving for our family holiday. I said 'no'! A devastating heart attack is the megaphone God uses to wrest publisher Edward England from his addictive busy-ness. This book is an...
Cyberdoc reviews the Medical Web and initiates a new service for interested Christians The Internet is attracting interest even in such periodicals as the British Medical Journal. In 1997 a BMJ article examined the Internet's advice on the treatment of feverish children. The research discovered that the advice found was inconsistent...
Receiving her BAFTA award as Best Female Actress (for her role as Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown) Dame Judi Dench quoted: 'The past is history The future is mystery The present is a gift - Which is why it is called 'the Present' As this last year before the new millennium begins, there is perhaps...
Do gays die younger? Developing controversial earlier work, Cameron et al have 'examined four different contemporary databases for evidence that homosexual activity might be associated with a shortened lifespan'. Their conclusions from data from the USA, Scandinavia and the UK lead them to confirm 'a lifespan shortened by 20 to 30...
Genetic counselling Biochemistry graduate Louise Ray plans to move from general counselling and work with special needs children into genetic counselling, and is asking for interested Christians to contact her: Over the last 15 months God has very obviously and with many confirmations called me to be a genetic counsellor. Being fully...
